Daily Archives: June 12, 2018

Today’s Takeaway

Softwood Lumber Board announces new plans, changes in executive management

June 12, 2018
Category: Today's Takeaway

Fresh from securing a new mandate, the Softwood Lumber Board announced its plans for the next 5 years as well as the pending retirement of CEO Steve Lovett and appointment of Cees de Jager to take his place. In post-G7 Business news: Maine’s senator offers soothing words; the New York Times says Trudeau’s challenge is managing Trump and domestic politics; and a feature story on how Trump’s lumber tariffs have helped increase US home prices

Companies making headlines today include:

  • Conifex is raising money to finance their US mill purchases
  • West Fraser declares a dividend and plans to purchase back some of its shares
  • Canfor names former Surrey mayor Dianne Watts to its Board of Directors
  • TimberWest celebrates safety, while others focus on their past pension fund sales

Elsewhere: APA on formaldehyde rules and shear walls; COFI on grading; the fire service on tall wood; and FPInnovations/NRCan on research. Finally; extreme fire danger forces another national forest to close—the San Juan National Forest officials in southwestern Colorado.

–Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

Trudeau’s Challenge: Managing Trump and Domestic Politics

By Ian Austen
The New York Times
June 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

OTTAWA — The security fences are coming down. And the world leaders have jetted off. But for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, the troubles have just begun. After the disastrous finale of the Group of 7 summit meeting, Mr. Trudeau is now caught in a tight spot between the unpredictable President Trump and the powerful Canadian dairy industry, the current target of Mr. Trump’s escalating trade threats. The prime minister’s challenge is how to manage both the most important Canadian ally and his own domestic politics. …And despite Mr. Trump’s unpopularity in Canada, Mr. Trudeau scrupulously avoided criticizing the president. Mr. Trump rewarded the effort with his hard-line positions on reworking the North American Free Trade Agreement, duties on Canadian lumber, steel and aluminum, and insistence that national security concerns justified those measures — to Canadians, an insulting position to take.

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How Trump’s Lumber Tariffs May Have Helped Increase Home Prices

By Peter Eavis
The New York Times
June 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Want to better understand what may happen in the United States economy as President Trump pursues his combative trade policies? Look no further than the lumber that goes into many houses in the United States. Long before the sharp clash with Canada at the Group of 7 meeting this weekend, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on lumber imports from Canada, which American home builders use in large quantities. …Those tariffs, which took effect last year, combined with other factors to drive up the price of lumber in the United States. …The Trump administration’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, and any others that follow, could also contribute to rising costs for businesses and consumers. …Paul F. Jannke, a principal at Forest Economic Advisors, said that the tariffs had contributed to the ascent. …›For now, many home builders are passing on their higher costs to home buyers.

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GOP senator offers soothing words about ‘special relationship’ with Canada

The Canadian Press in the Times Colonist
June 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Susan Collins

As U.S. officials heap scorn on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Republican senator is trying to ease international trade tensions by calling attention to an unusual paper mill in Maine that is “truly intertwined” with its cross-border neighbours in New Brunswick. Maine Sen. Susan Collins says the two countries may have had their differences over the years when it comes to subsidies, but she stressed that Canada remains “a close ally, good friend and one of America’s biggest trading partners.” …She pointed to the Twin Rivers Paper Co. mill in Madawaska, Maine, which gets the pulp it needs from a pipeline that extends across the border from a mill in Edmundston, N.B. …Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake also took to Twitter on Sunday, saying: “Fellow Republicans, this is not who we are.

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Conifex Announces Pricing of Subscription Receipt Offering and Filing of Final Short Form Prospectus

By Conifex
Cision Newswire
June 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER — Conifex Timber is pleased to announce that, further to its news release dated May 25, 2018, it is filing a final short form prospectus with applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities with respect to a marketed offering… for total gross proceeds of $64,500,000, together with an over-allotment option for up to an… additional gross proceeds of up to $9,675,000. …The net proceeds of the Offering are expected to be used to partially finance the previously announced acquisition by Conifex… of all of the outstanding membership interests of each of Caddo River Forest Products, LLC, Suwannee Lumber Holding Company, LLC and Suwannee Timber Management, LLC.

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Pension Funds Scooped Up TimberWest For Less Than Half Earlier Offer

By Andrew MacLeod
The Tyee
June 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

When a pair of pension funds bought TimberWest in 2011, the company’s board of directors recommended its investors approve the sale but failed to tell them the same buyers had offered to pay more than twice as much a few years earlier. …A sizeable offer from a reputable buyer probably should have been disclosed, he said, though he noted those were rough years for the forest industry and it wasn’t surprising the value of TimberWest declined significantly between the two offers. …Paul Quinn, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said there was a material change in the value of the company between the 2008 offer and the 2011 sale. …Typically offers are made to companies and considered in private, Quinn said. “It’s a judgment call how far back you go and is that the same company they’re bidding on now, and I would say no.”

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West Fraser Increases Share Buyback Program and Dividend Declared

By West Fraser Timber
Cision Newswire
June 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER – West Fraser Timber announced today that the Toronto Stock Exchange has accepted a notice filed by the Company of its intention to amend its current normal course issuer bid to purchase up to an additional 2,196,079 of its Common shares. …All shares will be purchased either on the open market through the facilities of the TSX or through other Canadian marketplaces, and payment for the shares will be made in accordance with TSX policies. …The Board of Directors of the Company has declared a dividend of $0.15 per share on the Common shares and the Class B Common shares in the capital of the Company, payable on July 18, 2018 to shareholders of record on June 27, 2018. 

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Watts named to Canfor board of directors

The Prince George Citizen
June 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Dianne Watts

Former Surrey mayor Dianne Watts has been appointed to Canfor Corp.’s board of directors. …Watts’ political career spans over 20 years, beginning in 1996 when she was elected to the municipality’s city council. In 2005, she was elected mayor and held the postion for nine years before moving on to become the MP for South Surrey-White Rock for another two years. She stepped down from that position for a failed run to become the leader of the B.C. Liberals, won by Andrew Wilkinson. …”We are thrilled to have someone with Dianne’s experience join our team,” said company chairman Conrad Pinette. “She will be a tremendous asset to our board and I am confident she will make a positive impact on our company.”

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Japan’s wood products export rose 37% in 2017

Lesprom Network
June 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States
Japan’s value of wood products export in 2017 was 32,647 million yen, 37% more than 2016. Main factor is increased export of logs to China and rapid expansion of cedar lumber export to the U.S. market, as ITTO reported. Log export to China was 776,004 cubic metres, 61.8% more than 2016 with the value of 10,299 million yen, 83.5% more. China eyed the U.S. market for export of cedar lumber then Japan also started exporting rough cedar lumber for the U.S. market mainly for fencing. The U.S. market prefers dark colored sap wood and black core, which Japan market does not like. Also cedar has strong water resistance and durability for exterior use. Cedar lumber export to the U.S. market in 2017 was 15,000 cubic metres, four times more than 2016.

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With solid industry mandate, Softwood Lumber Board launches aggressive five-year plan

By the Softwood Lumber Board
Global Newswire
June 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

Washington, DC — With a super-majority mandate from 94% of industry production representing 78% of companies voting in the referendum, the Softwood Lumber Board of Directors met on May 31st to launch an initiative to establish softwood lumber as the preferred choice for the built environment by 2024. “We will move from re-think wood when we started, to think wood today, to of course wood in 5 years”, said SLB Chairman Marc Brinkmeyer. To achieve this ambitious goal, the SLB will review and refine its strategy, tactics and funded initiatives to ensure all are optimized and aligned given the changing dynamics in the market. …The SLB also announced Steve Lovett’s plan to step down as Chief Executive Officer at the end of November 2018, and the appointment of Cees de Jager to take his place as Chief Executive Officer upon Steve’s retirement.

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NAWLA’s Traders Market is Returning to Chicago

North American Wholesale Lumber Association
June 11, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

NAWLA’s Traders Market is returning to Chicago November 7-9, 2018! Join us for three days of buying and selling, networking, and learning from industry professionals from across North America. Registration is now open. Check out the full schedule, including keynote speaker retired MLB pitcher Jim Abbott, show hours and more. Since 1996, Traders Market has held a unique position among lumber and building material tradeshows as the only one focused almost exclusively on the lumber supply chain. Unlike other shows, the exhibitors are almost always manufacturers of lumber and lumber-related products, not machinery or other equipment providers. No other lumber tradeshow provides this under one roof. No other show provides better value, if you want to sell a lumber product, find new suppliers, or expand your networks.

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The Global Forest Industry in the 1Q/2018

By Håkan Ekström
Wood Resources International
June 12, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Hakan Ekstrom

Excerpts from the Wood Resource Quarterly (www.WoodPrices.com) WRQ – 31 Years of Global Wood Price Reporting. Global Timber Markets: The Global Sawlog Price Index (GSPI) jumped 5.1% q-o-q in the 1Q/18 to reach its highest level since late 2014; There has been a steady increase in sawlog prices worldwide over the past year with the GSPI increasing just over 15% in 12 months; The Euro-based European Sawlog Price Index (ESPI) reached its highest level in almost three years in early 2018, continuing an upward trend that started in 2016.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Implementation of a new synergy model for the wood and forest sectors

By FPInnovations
Cision Newswire
June 11, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

Stephane Renou

QUEBEC – FPInnovations, the Laurentian Forestry Centre of Natural Resources Canada, Université Laval and its Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics are pleased to announce the signature of collaboration agreements aimed at developing the full innovation potential of the wood and forest sectors. This new operational synergy is based, among other things, on the complementary efforts of research forces and the sharing of infrastructures and laboratories, in order to maximize the impacts of research investments to the benefit of the competitiveness of the forest sector. …This announcement follows the relocation, last spring, of FPInnovations’ activities and the pooling of targeted research efforts.

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Esquimalt’s first modular mass-timber building beginning to put roots down

By Mona Saeed
Journal of Commerce
June 12, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Edmonton’s Standing Stone Developments is planning to build a 12-storey, 83-unit condominium building near the Canadian Forces Base in Esquimalt, B.C. Introduced as Corvette Landing, the structure will be built with pre-manufactured modular units made from engineered timber wood products. Utilizing the offsite construction method, the units will be manufactured in the Lower Mainland with full electrical and mechanical components built in and shipped to the construction site for assembly, creating approximately 108,000-square-feet of residential and outdoor/green living space. …Upon completion, the building will weigh just 25 per cent of a similarly-sized traditional concrete and steel structure, he states, and will use more environmentally-friendly materials and reduce greenhouse gases says project manager Troy Grant.

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What the Fire Service Needs to Know about Tall Wood Buildings

By Raymond OBrocki
Firehouse.com
June 11, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Firefighters and fire chiefs: Forget everything you know about wood construction. Tall wood buildings (TWB)—or more accurately tall mass timber buildings—are not the conventional, lightweight wood, stick-built construction with which the fire service is familiar. …There are 14 proposals before the International Code Council to incorporate TWB code restrictions into the International Building Code. These code provisions introduce three new construction types—Type IV-A, -B and -C. They also outline standards for the manufacture of mass timber, height and area restrictions, enhanced fire protection (both active and passive), fire safety during construction, water supply requirements, standards on sealants and adhesives, non-combustible protection, and fire-resistance ratings of tall mass timber.

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Engineers and Code Officials get the 411 on Force Transfer Around Openings

APA Engineered Wood
June 8, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Watch an easy overview of APA – The Engineered Wood Association’s free design tool, the FTAO Calculator, in this free, 60-minute recorded webinar, Shear Wall Analysis Made Easy: Force Transfer Around Openings Calculator. APA field engineer Alese Ashuckian, P.E., LEED AP, guides viewers through the design implementation of FTAO shear walls with a focus on asymmetric piers and multiple openings. Design examples are also discussed throughout the presentation. Wood structural panel sheathed shear walls and diaphragms are the primary lateral-load-resisting elements in wood-frame construction. As wood-frame construction continues to evolve, designers in many parts of the U.S. are optimizing solutions that require the understanding of force transfer between elements in the lateral load-resisting system.

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Structural Plywood, OSB Exempt from New Formaldehyde Ruling

APA Engineered Wood
June 8, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Composite wood products must meet new federal formaldehyde emissions regulations as of June 1, 2018. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation defines composite wood products as particleboard, medium density fiberboard (MDF), and hardwood (decorative) plywood. These products are required to be certified as compliant with the new regulation, which intends to ensure that all domestic and imported composite wood panels, and the finished products containing them, meet the world’s most stringent standards for formaldehyde emissions. Exemptions to the Regulation – Structural engineered wood products manufactured for construction applications, such as structural plywood, oriented strand board (OSB), wood I-joists, laminated veneer lumber, and glued-laminated timber, are exempt from the regulation. These products are manufactured using low emitting, moisture-resistant adhesives, per the strict product standards and building codes that govern them.

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Lendlease scores approval for second Barangaroo timber building

The Fifth Estate
June 12, 2018
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Barangaroo South will welcome a sister building for its super-sustainable engineered timber International House Sydney, with planning approval granted for Daramu House. Meaning “tree house” in local Dharug and Eora language, Daramu House will be the company’s sixth engineered timber building in Australia, joining International House Sydney, Brisbane’s 25 King St, Melbourne’s Forte Apartments and Library at The Dock, and Western Sydney’s Jordan Springs Community Hub. It will feature six levels of office space over 10,000 square metres and ground level retail tenancies making up 680 sq m. Aside from the use of engineered timber in the form of cross-laminated timber and glulam, sustainability features include solar PV and rooftop planting to capture rain.

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Forestry

BC WILDFIRE: Most of Filmon report was ignored

By David Bond – retired bank economist
The Kelowna Daily Courier
June 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Bond

…Liberal leader, Andrew Wilkinson, says he is proud of the record of the Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark governments. He should reflect on that record more closely as we enter another forest fire season. Following the devastating 2003 fires …then-premier Campbell did two things First, he hired the former Premier of Manitoba, Gary Filmon, to produce a report on… the forest fire threat in the province. Second, he sold off the test forests throughout the province that were instrumental in determining the annual allowable cut. …Now, as the 2018 fire season ramps up and the climate change continues to produce drought-like conditions more frequently, our forests are at increased risk. The current government inherited serious budget constraints from this and other fiscal problems… Perhaps Wilkinson should be a little more modest about his party’s past achievements and explain how they plan to do better in future.

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The new threat facing Fort McMurray (and other parts of Western Canada)

By Jason Contant
Canadian Underwriter
June 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

…The Canadian Press recently reported that as of May 10, some 900 [2016 Fort McMurray wildfire] insurance claims were outstanding. Alberta’s Minister of Finance and president of the Treasury Board, Joe Ceci, said …government is ready and prepared to amend the legislation to ensure residents are being treated fairly. …While this may mean that the claims process for Canada’s costliest natural disaster is slowly coming to an end, the wildfire risk is far from over. “Alberta residents are again worried about wildfire risks in their backyard, this time due to the spread of the mountain pine beetle,” according to a report, Building Resilience to the Economic Threat of Invasive Species, released last week. [The report] funded by the Swiss Re Institute examines the economic costs and policy gaps in managing invasive species in Canada and the United States.

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COFI announces winners of the 50th BC Lumber Grading Championship

Council of Forest Industries
June 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Dave Munro

Kelowna, BC – The BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI) is pleased to announce the winners of the 50th Annual BC Lumber Grading Championship held in Kelowna on May 26, 2018. The only competition of its kind in the world, top lumber graders from around the province gather to demonstrate their skills in their craft. To compete, graders identify the species of the wood, assess roughly 70 different characteristics and assign one of 21 grades to the piece of lumber. They also complete a three hour written exam which tests their knowledge of lumber grading. …“In the 50 years since the the first championship, the forest industry has been adapting and evolving. This year we were very pleased to have the highest scoring female contestant in the Grading Championship history. We look forward to continuing to increase diversity in the Championship and industry going forward,” said Gary Desrosier, Quality Control Manager for COFI.

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Western Woodlot Owner Co-operative ‘motoring right along’

By Katy Johnson
The Chronicle Herald
June 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada East

A non-profit woodlot owner co-operative for the seven counties of western Nova Scotia, launched in 2017, has seen increasing interest and steady growth in its first year of operation, with membership nearing the 100 mark, representing an estimated 27,000 acres of forest. The Western Woodlot Services Co-operative (WWSC) is owned and operated by woodlot owners in Lunenburg, Queens, Shelburne, Yarmouth, Annapolis and Kings counties, offering a “one-stop shop” for woodlot services such as management planning, silvicultural assistance, marketing of wood products, harvesting supervision, training and forest certification. “We’re just motoring right along here,” said WWSC general manager Patricia Amero.

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The Cracker Barrel: Pinchot: ‘The father of American forestry’

By Craig Nagel
The Lake Country Echo
June 12, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Gifford Pinchot

Trying to get Americans to agree on any given topic is like trying to form an orderly herd of cats or frogs or wood ticks. …Given that fact, I think it’s nearly miraculous that our citizenry and its leaders were once inspired to set aside a sizeable amount of land in public ownership with the thought of keeping it that way forever. …But it wasn’t until 1898, on the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, that a German forester named Carl Shenck started a forestry school and introduced a young student named Gifford Pinchot (pronounced Pin-sho) to other German foresters. Pinchot, who soon became known as “the father of American forestry,” credited these men with giving him the practical skills and legislative ideas he would later put to effective use in our country. …Pinchot defined conservation as allowing “the greatest good to the greatest number for the longest time.”

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Ellen Shultzabarger is Pennsylvania’s first female state forester

Tribune Review
June 11, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: United States

Ellen Shultzabarger

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has appointed Pennsylvania’s first female state forester. Ellen Shultzabarger, 41, of Lancaster will oversee the 2.2 million acres the department’s Bureau of Forestry manages, conserving native plants, promoting timber yields and protecting clean water, plant and wildlife biodiversity and wild character, according to a Monday news release. The state’s forest system is one of the largest in the nation, according to the release. Shultzabarger most recently worked as the bureau’s chief of conservation science and ecological resources. She has worked on oil and gas management, restoration, wildlife management and recreation planning, according to the release.

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Paying communities for forest management activities supports social relationships

By Oregon State University
Phys.Org
June 12, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

New research shows that paying communities in Mexico to conserve and manage their jointly-owned property doesn’t just benefit the environment—it strengthens social relationships and a sense of community within those areas as well. …The findings provide new evidence that payments for environmental services can provide broader social benefits, according to the study’s co-lead authors, Oregon State University’s Jennifer Alix-Garcia and Amherst College’s Katharine Sims. This is the first analysis of the social capital impacts of a national-scale, globally relevant forest conservation program. It shows that payment programs improve participants’ “social capital”—involvement in assemblies, ability to resolve conflicts, trust between members and community-building efforts, among other things.

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Forestry companies ‘committed to do our fair share’

Radio New Zealand
June 12, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Peter Weir

President of the Forest Owners Association Peter Weir expects a raft of changes within the industry, he says, following criticism about the way it handles debris. Residents in the Gisborne region are calling for the industry to be held accountable after logging debris carried in floodwaters, caused million tonnes of logs and forest debris to be dumped on farms, in rivers and on beaches over the last week. Flood-hit farmers around Tolaga Bay have demanded an immediate halt to all forestry in the area, until a government inquiry into the industry was carried out. Forest Owners Association president Peter Weir, who is also the environment manager for a Gisborne forestry company, said the debris was from trees harvested five years ago. He told Checkpoint not much could be done to help with the clean-up until roads were restored.

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Forestry failure to launch

By The New Zealand National Party
Scoop Independent News
June 12, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Alastair Scott

The One Billion Trees Project is woefully behind target even though a quarter of the billion dollar Provincial Growth Fund is being spent on it, National Party Spokesperson for Forestry Alastair Scott says. “Broken election promises, disorganisation and policy incompetence was the overarching theme in today’s Forestry Estimates Hearing where Forestry Minister Shane Jones turned up and failed to explain away the mess he’s making. “The Government says it has secured only 1000 hectares to plant 1 million trees this planting season, from a budget of $245 million allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund for forestry.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

As biomass energy gains traction, southern US forests feel the burn

By Rachel Fritts
Mongabay
June 11, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

Stretching across the southeastern U.S., wetland forests provide ecosystem services totaling $500 billion, according to a 2018 report by environmental watchdog group Dogwood Alliance. Today, America’s natural wetland forests exist in pockets, covering just a fraction of their former range. However, even in their depleted state, they provide crucial services. These highly biodiverse ecosystems are some of the most carbon-rich in the country, serving as a buffer against climate change. They also benefit the health and wellbeing of local communities, filtering air and water and providing aesthetic and recreational value. But conservation organizations like Dogwood Alliance say that despite their ecological importance, U.S. wetland forests are currently being drained, logged, burned, shipped across the Atlantic, and converted to monoculture pine plantations – all in the name of renewable energy.

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Full steam ahead with waste chips for $5.38 million green project

By David Fitzsimons
Central Western Daily
June 12, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Waste wood chips from regional forests will replace LPG gas to provide steam for MSM Milling’s Manildra canola processing plant in a $5.38 million green project. Work will start soon with commissioning expected from mid-late October. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced on Tuesday it would provide $2 million toward the project. A 4.88 megawatt biomass-fired boiler will be installed at Manildra in one of the first projects of its type by a large food company in Australia. Wood chips, including forestry thinnings, offcuts and sawmill by-products will be trucked to the plant to fire the plant’s boilers and generate steam for the processing operation.

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Scientists shocked by mysterious deaths of ancient trees

By Helen Briggs
BBC Science and Environment
June 11, 2018
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

International scientists have discovered that most of the oldest and largest African baobab trees have died over the past 12 years. They suspect the demise may be linked to climate change, although they have no direct evidence of this. The tree can grow to an enormous size, and may live hundreds if not thousands of years. The researchers, from universities in South Africa, Romania and the US, say the loss of the trees is “an event of an unprecedented magnitude”. …”We suspect that the demise of monumental baobabs may be associated at least in part with significant modifications of climate conditions that affect southern Africa in particular,” said the team, led by Dr Adrian Patrut of Babes-Bolyai University in Romania.

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Health & Safety

TimberWest Celebrates Outstanding Contractors with Safety Leadership and Environmental Leadership Awards

TimberWest
June 11, 2018
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada, Canada West

Nanaimo, BC — Today, TimberWest held its Safety Leadership and Environmental awards in Nanaimo, BC and recognized the achievements of five outstanding contractors. “Our contractors help coordinate the activities of close to 1,000 people out in the woods every day across a variety of terrain and through changing weather conditions.  Safe and environmentally responsible outcomes are only possible through their unrelenting focus and commitment to improve.” said, Jeff Zweig, President and CEO of TimberWest. “Each of the award winners has contributed in an exceptional way to achieving better safety or environmental outcomes.  We greatly appreciate their efforts.” In 2017, TimberWest achieved a below coastal industry average medical incident rate of 2.01 per 200,000 hours worked; a 39% decrease in medical incident rate year-over-year. And, TimberWest received zero major environmental non-conformances’ on its independent environmental audit conducted by KPMG.

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Forest Fires

Forest fire hazard climbs across NW Ontario

The Thunder Bay News Watch
June 11, 2018
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada East

DRYDEN, Ont. —  The forest fire danger rating across much of northwestern Ontario has risen to Extreme. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry fire information map published Monday morning shows an Extreme rating for areas from the international border to the far north. Exceptions include areas close to Thunder Bay, Kenora and Fort Frances where the fire danger is listed as high. The MNRF reported four new fires in the region as of late Sunday afternoon… All were listed as less than one hectare in size, and all were said to be human-caused.

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Extreme fire danger forces another national forest to close

By Colleen Sievin
The Washington Post
June 11, 2018
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

DENVER — Extreme fire danger prompted officials Monday to say they are shutting down a sprawling forest that includes some of Colorado’s most stunning mountains in a region that attracts tourists from around the world, a rare tactic also being used in neighboring states as the U.S. Southwest struggles with severe drought. National forests and parks in Arizona and New Mexico have already been shut down as precautions. San Juan National Forest officials in southwestern Colorado planned to close hundreds of miles of trails and thousands of miles of back roads to hikers…. It’s the first full closure of a national forest in Colorado since 2002, which was another very dry year.

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